They'll Love You 3000
by AuthorA97
Summary: Tony Stark was born into a world where having a homosexual Soulmark was akin to a death sentence. (This is a sequel- first one if A Jotunn By Any Other Name)


Tony Stark was born into a world where having a homosexual Soulmark was akin to a death sentence.

Back in the old days, everyone got boy-girl pairings. Sometimes the Name would be gender neutral- making a bit of a stir until the Soulmate arrived. Other times they weren't so lucky-with one Soulmate dying before they ever had a chance to see each other. _Burned as a witch_, that old stick.

Then at some random point in the past century more and more gay Soulmarks popped up. Protests were still being fought for the right to bond and marry those Soulmates together, as many states still hadn't legalized it yet. More people appeared everyday, shouting proudly in support for the '_gay agenda'. _They'd walk in the streets of San Francisco once a year for Gay Pride.

Tony Stark thought it was a great idea.

If only it'd happened one generation earlier.

If only someone had said something about what to do if you woke up with _two._

He could still remember back when he was a boy, the day he got his Soulmarks. He was already incredibly intelligent, so he understood that it was _bad _when he had no just one but _two _boy's Names on his wrists. He remembered rushing to find Jarvis and Ana, hoping they could explain the mistake so he could fix it.

_(Except he was a genius. He knew there was no 'fixing it')_

_(Not even if Howard eventually saw them)_

Jarvis has given Tony a warm blanket. Ana made hot chocolate. They sat with him for _hours_, telling him over and over again that it was going to be okay. That having _Stephen Strange _and _Loki Laufeyson _didn't make him 'bad'.

(Or any of the other things Tony had overheard from Howard.)

(Screaming to Stane when another protest was happening outside a factory.)

(Or when it appeared on the news.)

_(Or when his son turned out to be a-)_

Tony remembered getting the two Bands. The ones that would hide his Names until they came along. His mother has been so ecstatic to see them. She hadn't even questioned the need for wearing two bands.

Howard might've questioned it if he paid more than two minutes of attention a week to his son.

But you know. For awhile, Tony actually _believed _Jarvis and Ana. That the two Names he wore were good things.

_(Tony wasn't an optimist)_

==TLY3==

When Tony moved out to MIT, he was without Jarvis and Ana for years.

Tony could barely remember the conversations with his mom- not that they were good conversations anyway.

He could count on one hand the times he'd spoken to Howard. Even less how many of those talks went well.

So MIT was a big chance. For something good in his life. He could build things to his heart's content- all the bots and AI's he could without Howard or Obadiah breathing down his goddamn neck.

Meeting Rhodey had been..._wow. _Tony instantly loved his roommate. The man put up with so much of Tony's shit- always gave back as good as he was got.

And Tony gave him a _lot_.

Like, too much.

Seriously.

_(And when Tony stayed up too late one night- working on building his latest idea- he ended up telling Rhodey all about _Stephen Strange _and _Loki Laufeyson_.)_

_(And Rhodey supported Tony)_

Yeah.

Tony always gave him trouble.

Thank god Rhodey was also the same kind of sarcastic asshole.

==TLY3==

_December 16, 1991._

==TLY3==

Tony was at a charity event- somewhere between drunk and high. He couldn't remember which just...just now.

He was talking to a sex blonde- legs for days and also boobs that he'd need both hands for-_(but they weren't _Stephen _or_ Loki _so what was the point)-_when Pepper Potts came to his side.

"Mr Stark, there are still many people you need to speak with." Pepper reminded him.

"Ms Potts, I am always ready to talk to people." Tony waved over his shoulder to that blonde again. She waved back.

Pepper had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. All these months working with him, she'd learned those skills. "Yes but these people are the actual people you are here to see."

Tony hummed in disinterest.

"It's important for Stark Industries." Pepper told him.

Again, Tony hummed.

"Mr Stark." Pepper stressed.

"Have to talk to the people. Got it." Tony grabbed his drink, gulping it down.

"_Mr Stark._"

"Relax, Ms Potts, Obie has it all covered." Tony assured his latest assistant. Because that's what she was- the latest in a long line of assistants. Tony usually got rid of them after a night together, but it seems like Ms Potts had a thing about sleeping with her boss. Lately, Tony had to _remind_ himself that Ms Potts wouldn't ever be anything but another of the many. "He's got everything under control."

_(And he did)_

_(Oh, he did.)_

He went home with the blonde that night.

The next morning, Ms Potts started to develop the masterful system of '_taking out the trash'._

==TLY3==

Tony told Pepper about _Stephen Strange_ and _Loki Laufeyson_ after being so ridiculously drunk, with no partner at night, that Tony thought he would die alone.

_(Like he deserved)_

_(Just like Howard always wanted)_

Pepper had told him he was wrong.

Tony told her that if he hadn't found _them_ now- when would he ever?

Pepper called him on his bullshit.

Tony...kept Pepper around.

_(Cause she's scary when she's got her mind set on something)_

==TLY3==

The next morning Pepper Potts handed Tony Stark a news article on a StarkPad.

Tony glanced at the thin tablet, then up at Pepper. "I have actual work to do, so just take that thing away before Dummy gets the idea to put it in a smoothie."

"Stephen Strange." Pepper stated. Tony paused in his calculations on the latest missile. "There's one record of him. He's a doctor."

Tony kept quiet- trying to tune her out and knowing it wasn't working because if he really wanted to tune her out he'd be babbling over her.

"He lives in New York."

"Aren't you supposed to let, I don't know, destiny or fate or that hippy crap tell you when to meet them?" Tony asked, pretending to look busy.

"Then consider this fate." Pepper informed him.

Tony didn't want to admit his mind was already coming up with how fast he could get to New York on his jet, how long it would take to find a _Stephen Strange_ in a hospital. Besides that, he can already see the positives of having a doctor for a Soulmate with all the danger of Tony's building and other lifestyle choices.

_(Pepper was thinking of those things too. Plus she'd seen a picture of Stephen Strange...he was gorgeous.)_

"Is this thanks for introducing you to a Mister Happy Hogan?" Tony asked.

Pepper gave Tony an endearing look. With Tony's tendency to give people nicknames, it had taken Happy a long time to hear Pepper be called _Virginia Potts._ Longer for Pepper to hear _Harold Hogan._ "Tony."

Tony smiled at her. "Alright then. Gotta finish the plans for this. JARVIS book me on the next flight tomorrow to New York."

"_Of course, Sir."_

"Will that be everything, Ms Potts?" Tony asked.

"Yes it will, Mr Stark."

_(Dummy had found the tablet- using it for a smoothie as Tony feared. It delayed the plans a little bit)_

_(Tony had the JERICHO missile plans finished by the time he boarded the plane, though)_

==TLY3==

Tony looked up at the hospital. "Remind me what my excuse is for being here."

Pepper took a deep breath. "You're thinking of setting up a headquarters in Manehattan. One of the floors you want to be for medical- and you need expertise on how to set that up."

"Right...right." Tony tapped his phone into his palm. If he were an emotional person he might say _Stephen Strange_ was buzzing under the bracelet.

But he wasn't.

So it wasn't.

Nah, that feeling was just because Tony had been fiddling with it the entire plane and personal car ride over.

Yeah.

Also he wasn't nervous.

At all.

How dare you assume such a thing.

"Tony." Pepper prompted. "We're going to be late."

"Hold on- we forgot. We should tell Rhodes about this." Tony excused. "If Rhodes finds out I met my Soulmate-"

"-he'll wonder why you're told him, when I texted him yesterday about it." Pepper reported.

Tony was impressed. "That's how you found him the first place isn't it."

"Colonel Rhodes would never misuse government property to track down the Soulmate of someone." Pepper reported, a smooth expression on her face that gave nothing away.

After another minute of that back-and-forth dance, Pepper managed to drag Tony inside. She dragged him towards the check-in desk.

"Hello. Pepper Potts, and Tony Stark. We're looking for a Dr Strange for a meeting." Pepper informed the receptionist.

Tony started to just blend the next ten minutes together. Walking through the hospital, past all the sick people and the occasional person being pushed through the halls to a surgery. They made it to Dr Strange's room at one point, let in by a Christine that Tony knew last week he would've watched walk away.

But this Tony was too nervous.

_(Okay also Pepper was beside him and Tony had learned to stop seducing people with Pepper beside him)_

Tony knocked on the door.

"Come in." A voice inside replied.

_(Don't be intimidated, Stark.)_

Tony pushed the door open, instantly putting on his 'CEO Tony Stark' swagger and gait.

_(Just imagine him in his underwear_)

He stepped into the office.

_(Oh no he's HOT!)_

Dr Strange grinned as he stood up from his office chair. "Hello, Dr Stephen Strange. You were my nine o'clock, Ms Pepper Potts and...you are?"

"Stephen, I'm Tony Stark. Pretty sure I'm more than just you're '_nine o'clock'_." Tony supplied, looking at Stephen from down his shades.

The doctor's eyes widened in realization.

==TLY3==

Three months go by. Tony continues his business in LA. Stephen goes on being a doctor in New York. Tony flies out every Friday for a 'date night'- at Pepper's insistence and despite Rhodey's good natured ribbing.

_(Tony would show him)_

_(One day, Tony would be the one to find the 'Nebula' and bring_ her _into_ Rhodey's _life and make them have date nights while sending awful jokes to them the entire time)_

_(Yeah)_

The media ate up their meeting. Some people called it a meet-cute. Some said it was a tragic day when two of the hottest guys ended up together. A rare few actually got pissed- because they were two guys, mainly.

Pepper handler those guys.

_(Again. Scary.)_

Stephen was sarcastic and dry and witty and Tony loved somebody who could keep up with him in smack talk.

They both wondered about the one they didn't have. Loki Laufeyson.

They both wondered what he was going through.

They thought bastard was lucky- getting them both at once.

_(But they never said that outloud)_

Tony would make Stephen watch his favorite movies. Stephen would make Tony quiz him on music culture. Tony was given a lot of gifts back because apparently Stephen didn't like the idea of Tony '_buying_' his affection. Stephen had to listen to Tony explain he didn't like when date night was cancelled because Stephen had show up another doctor at work.

The sex was great too- without a doubt.

It...

They hated to call it perfect or easy.

Even if it _was._

_(But still no Loki)_

_(...and Tony has his upcoming JERICHO presentation.)_

_(Stephen got annoyed whenever Tony brought it up- like some kind of boast.)_

_(Stephen had his own event at was salty that Tony couldn't come as his plus one)._

Tony wasn't all the way happy...but he was getting there.

==TLY3==

"_Nah I'm taking the fun-vee."_

==TLY3==

Tony woke up to the worst pain imaginable.

And he had a car battery in his chest.

_Stephen Strange _burned on his wrist in a pain that was unending.

==TLY3==

"_You will make me the JERICHO."_

==TLY3==

"So you are a man with everything, and nothing. Not even your Soulmate could complete you. You think your third will 'complete' your relationship? No. Do not put that on him. He will coexist there as your first Soulmate does. You are not triangle- incomplete with a side missing. You are like the heavens and the sun and the moon. They are all amazing in their own ways and even better together."

"Wow. Real poetic, Yinsen."

"My Soulmates and I were the same."

"You...have two?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Cherish him when he comes to you, Stark. Cherish him like he is the air you breath and Stephen is the water you drink. Do that- and I think your legacy will be something good."

==TLY3==

Tony made it home with a hole in his chest.

And Stephen _nowhere _to be found.

Tony thought he was showing up that add Lucian again- which is why he missed all the fucking press about it.

It- Well it didn't make Tony feel The most appreciated to not have Stephen right now.

Then again...maybe that was an okay thing. He wasn't ready to see Stephen yet. He had a hole in his chest where his heart was supposed to be. No doctor would want to see that, let alone a Soulmate.

When JARVIS told him about an intruder in his house, he hoped for a minute that Stephen had lost his key in the excitement to get Tony back.

What he got was so much better.

...ish.

==TLY3==

Tony threw his phone across the room.

Loki Laufeyson was _beautiful._

And as soon as finding out it was the wrong name he ran off, looking like the world had been inverted under his feet.

Obadiah was pressing him for the arc reactor tech.

Rhodey admitted that someone had burned down the camp where Tony was held captive, not long after Tony took down those stragglers in Gulmira.

And STEPHEN STILL WOULDN'T ANSWER HIS GODDAMN PHONE!

It had been _six months _since Tony had spoken to Stephen Strange.

Three since he had any conversations with his Soulmates in general.

Tony had told Pepper about Loki Laufeyson. They watched the security clip of Loki in Tony's house. Pepper praised him on finding an excellent looking Soulmate once again.

_("Seriously Tony...Wow." "Watch it. He's mine and Stephen's! You stick with Happy!")_

Tony was obsessive in watching those five minutes.

And Tony- Tony couldn't find Loki anywhere.

And- and Tony was a hundred times more pissed off that Stephen Strange had been _in a car accident._ Because of _texting while driving._

_(And based on the timing, that was when Tony had his heart blasted from his chest)_

Tony hated metaphors.

_(And he hated thinking about what Loki must have felt in that same time.)_

Tony wanted his Soulmates back.

==TLY3==

"_Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would have preferred that she lived. I suppose it's actually good for me that Stephen hasn't been seen since his car accident."_

==TLY3==

"_I am Iron Man."_


End file.
